From Gotham to Night City, my infamy is known to all.

I opened the browser and tried it, and I could actually access the internet. It seems that Batman isn't entirely inhuman after all.

He excitedly checked Gotham City's local news, focusing on the Joker's whereabouts.

It's regrettable to discover that, in the week he's been gone, Batman hasn't yet sent Gotham Story King back to Arkham Asylum.

"Batman's efficiency is terrible..."

The good news is that Gordon didn't fake his death, and Harvey is alive and well, so it seems he didn't miss too much of the "plot".

If we could find an opportunity to do Batman a big favor, perhaps he would be a little more agreeable.

Ding-dong-

As Leo was pondering, he heard a clear doorbell ring from somewhere nearby.

Turning his head, he saw a square gap in the wall to his left, no more than 30 centimeters wide, which could not possibly be a door.

He went closer to look and saw a conveyor belt inside the gap, from which a plate was smoothly delivered to him.

He understood—this was a food delivery hatch, a common design feature in prisons…

Deceiving too much!

Leo's fist hardened.

Just then, a rich fragrance wafted on the wind and entered his nostrils, which calmed his anger slightly.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Leo, only the young master can open the door to the isolation room, and he won’t allow me to go in either. I’ve prepared some freshly baked cookies and a hand-ground mocha for you. You can have some first, and then wait a little while.”

The image of the old butler, Afu, appeared on the monitor next to the food pick-up area.

Even though it was late at night, the dutiful old butler was still dressed in a suit and looked impeccably dressed.

Leo breathed in the sweet-smelling air, and all his anger vanished.

Imagine this: a man nearing seventy bakes you cookies and hand-ground coffee in the middle of the night and sincerely apologizes. Would you still have the heart to blame him?

Leo's reply was: "It's alright, the grievances have their source and the debtors their culprits. This will all be blamed on Batman. In a little while, I'll get it back by making his wallet bleed."

Afu smiled elegantly, neither confirming nor denying it.

Leo carried his tray back to his desk and began to enjoy the sweet cookies.

To be honest, Alfred's skills are quite remarkable. The cookies have a light caramelized aroma on the outside, while the inside is soft and delicious, with just the right amount of sweetness. Even a Chinese person like him can enjoy them.

Unlike the desserts in Gotham Supermarket—which are so sweet they're almost cloying, like they've been saccharin-laced with sugar.

With snacks and drinks, Leo quickly became engrossed in playing computer games and keeping up with the latest news in Gotham City through local news.

Time flew by, and when the coffee was finished and a whole plate of cookies was gone, Batman finally appeared.

He didn't come in directly, but stood on the other side of the isolation room, fiddling with high-tech equipment.

"Turn off your jammer first, and put your arm into the detector. I need to verify your identity first."

A device automatically emitted light, attracting Leo's attention.

It's a fully automated blood testing machine. Just place your hand in the designated spot, and it will automatically collect and test your blood.

Leo was furious that he was being stabbed as soon as he got back to Gotham: "You can't even say good evening? Your attitude towards your business partners is terrible. Most people would at least say 'It's nice to see you again'!"

Batman didn't even remove his mask, giving him a brief glance before returning his gaze to the device's screen: "Good evening. Turn off the jammer and stick your arm into the testing station. By the way, I don't want to see you again."

"What a coincidence, me too! I'm so glad to see you again!"

After mentally giving Batman the middle finger, Leo reluctantly cooperated with him for a physical examination.

After struggling for a while, he finally proved that "I am myself".

Later, Batman repeatedly disinfected the isolation room using various methods before finally appearing before him with a composed expression.

"You're lying. You can stay connected to the world."

With just one sentence, Batman transformed a heartwarming reunion into an impending battle.

A tense atmosphere, as if a storm was brewing, instantly spread.

Leo's heart skipped a beat, and after a half-second of stunned silence, he quickly realized—this was definitely another test!

Batman's usual tricks are utterly boring!

Watch as he exposes Batman's lies and makes him lose face!

"I--"

"Law of Conservation of Energy"

He interrupted Leo as soon as he uttered a single word.

"what?"

“The law of conservation of energy,” Batman repeated. “Your server room operates at high intensity 24/7, consuming far more power than the threshold required to maintain the monitoring system. I tracked the whereabouts of the computing power and found that it vanished into thin air. Obviously, if you can access computing power, you must have a way to access information.”

Retrieving information means he can maintain a network-level connection with the world, Leo mentally added this conclusion for him.

The logical chain is clear and completely self-consistent.

[Oh no... Pure White, Batman has exposed all our secrets! We need to figure out a way to save the day!]

Emerging Talent: Chapter 212 Leo: Batman? Just a tool to me!

Don't panic, you guessed right, he's just bluffing. Except for the singularity space upgrade, I've always made dynamic adjustments; how could he possibly see through my disguise so easily?

Pure White's words reassured Leo, but he couldn't help but think to himself: "That damn Batman, always testing me like that, doesn't he get tired of it! How am I supposed to explain the disappearance of my computing power?"

They said they were conducting combat training and optimizing home surveillance systems.

[Will this work? Did my instinctive reaction just now give me away?]

"Yes, he'll doubt whatever you say, because he's Batman, that's his personality. As for your bewildered and shocked reaction just now, that was good too; it made Batman think he guessed something, but he wasn't entirely sure."

We didn't discuss Gotham at all in Night City, precisely to guard against this move. His reaction was completely expected. Don't be afraid, confront him! Be tough!

The internal communication with Pure White took only a few seconds, but Leo's mindset underwent a tremendous change.

No matter how clever Batman is, he always manages to gain the upper hand, but his tricks are eventually seen through. There will always be a day when he turns against the Heavenly Gang!

When one is full of spirit, one's outward behavior will naturally be different.

Leo frowned slightly, revealing his dissatisfaction: "What nonsense are you talking about? I painstakingly optimized the home monitoring system and conducted combat training. What's wrong with using a little computing power! Isn't that what data center server rooms are for!"

As for where the computing power goes… well, I certainly can't tell you that. Just like you don't trust me, I can't completely trust someone as suspicious as you. We're just business partners; if we can cooperate, we cooperate; if not, we part ways.

Batman gave him a disapproving look.

Leo didn't care whether he agreed or not. He flipped his right hand and took out a data chip: "This is the EA0.5 version of the home monitoring system. The basic framework is already set up and it can basically be adapted to the electronic devices of your time. The later versions will mainly optimize efficiency."

Just as Batman was about to reach out, the chip disappeared again.

"Are you planning to talk business here?" Leo glanced around with dissatisfaction. "There isn't even a spare chair here. Let's find another place."

As he spoke, he stood up and walked toward the entrance that Batman had opened when he came in.

Behind him, Batman stared at his retreating figure, his brow furrowed slightly. But in the end, he said nothing and silently followed, keeping a distance of several meters.

Leo strode arrogantly, looking around with an air of utter disregard for family and friends.

The 44th floor of Wayne Tower has been completely transformed, filled with all sorts of experimental equipment of unknown purpose, making it look like a research center.

The only problem is that there are no researchers in white lab coats here, only Batman dressed in all black.

Not long after leaving the isolation room, they ran into the old housekeeper, Afu.

After a few polite words, Afu led the way into the heavily guarded elevator.

At the elevator entrance, the gleaming electric fence and the ubiquitous defense facilities made one's eyelids twitch.

Ding--

The elevator doors closed, and the three of them silently arrived at the top floor.

Leo once again arrived at Batman's living room and sat down on his usual sofa.

A little later, Ah Fu brought over some tea and a fruit platter, and then stood quietly to the side.

Batman sat opposite him the entire time, quietly observing him.

Leo felt somewhat uncomfortable under his gaze and frowned, teasingly saying, "Are you going to talk to me in this bat suit? It's very impolite to cover your face with a mask during negotiations."

"It doesn't matter." Batman remained unmoved.

Leo was at a loss with him: "Fine... I know, Batman is your true self, Bruce Wayne is just your disguise, you're just showing your true colors."

Batman's expression remained unchanged.

Afu's eyes involuntarily glanced in this direction.

Leo picked up his teacup, took a sip, and quickly organized his thoughts before beginning his speech according to the pre-arranged plan:

“Batman, I know you want to manage everything and meddle in everything, so let’s simplify things. I’ll tell you the details of what needs to be done this time, and you can handle it. I’ll just stay in my room for a week and treat it as a vacation. That way, we can both relax. What do you think?”

Such blatant shirking of responsibility left Batman, who always prefers to do everything himself, speechless.

After a moment's thought, he said in a deep voice, "Tell me."

Leo knew that, given Batman's personality, this basically meant he had agreed.

"Very well, let's get straight to the point."

"First of all, the home monitoring system has been upgraded to EA version 0.5. You can check the update log for details."

Leo placed a chip box on the table. Inside were four chips: one was the main chip, one was a backup chip, and the other two contained EA0.3 and EA0.4 chips. This was to show off his hard work and demonstrate that he had been diligently working.

After pushing the chip box over, he waved his left hand across the open space beside him, releasing a rectangular metal box.

"These are armored roller shutter doors and windows designed to work with home surveillance systems. They automatically close when the system detects an intruder, protecting the buyer's safety. I think the wealthy and upper class would appreciate this."

By the way, just a heads-up, things are a bit extreme where we are. The original doors and windows, when activated, have the terrifying power to cut an intruder in half. You'll have to modify them yourself.

After Batman accepted the two items, he stretched out his right hand, making a gesture as if asking for money: "I've given you the system upgrade and the accompanying products. Isn't it time to give me more investment? I think $3 million is a reasonable amount."

“Fine.”

"..."

Leo was momentarily speechless at Batman's original tycoon-like remarks, and after a moment he calmed down, he said, "You don't need to transfer this money to my account. Just use it all to buy equipment and continue building the data center."

Batman gave him a deep look. "It seems this server room is very important to you."

“That’s right, I’m a tech-savvy person. Equipment can directly enhance my abilities.” Leo admitted calmly, not feeling there was anything to hide, and besides, it was impossible to hide it anyway.

“Okay, let Afu handle it.”

Anyway, the equipment was produced by Wayne Group, so this kind of trivial matter of transferring money from one hand to the other is not worth mentioning.

"The second thing is this shopping list for this trip. The items are still wine, but the proportion of purchases has been adjusted. In addition, I need to add a new high-end dry red wine from the supermarket. The budget is $50 a bottle. It would be best if it were a local Gotham wine and tasted good."

Leo handed over a handwritten shopping list, which was actually just a copy of the list the priest had given him.

Batman reached out and took it, quickly doing a mental calculation after looking at the numbers on it. "Your space has expanded five times?"

"No, that's not true. Last time was my first time smuggling, and I didn't dare to go all out. This time I've found a way, and I can try to bring in more goods."

Leo appeared natural, using half-truths to deceive the other party.

Early Signs of Talent: Chapter 213 Leo: "Batman, have you ever heard of Alcohol-2 Wheat?"

"We've found a way..."

Batman's gaze swept over him, confirming once again that his demeanor had undergone a dramatic change compared to last time—from a completely harmless ordinary person to a leader with a hint of superiority.

It seems that he really profited a lot from the last smuggling operation.

"It's clear you've been through a lot, and even participated in battles?"

“That’s right,” Leo readily admitted. “Our place is like Gotham City Plus. When you’re broke, you’re like a stray dog ​​on the street, anyone can step on you. But once you have money, all sorts of people and troubles will come flooding in, trying to make money off you, robbing you, or befriending you. I have to protect my family and property, so I inevitably have to get into conflicts with people.”

To show his sincerity and to reduce the negative impact of his past "killing," Leo took out a blank discrete chip and inserted it into the slot behind his ear.

[Pure White, copy the downloaded "Dead Man's Lottery" program to the chip, let Batman see the greatness of Night City! That way he'll know how ridiculous it is to be a pushover in that godforsaken place.]

After waiting a few minutes, Leo casually tossed the separation chip to Batman: "Look at how chaotic things are over there. Every day it's a national pastime to guess how many people died yesterday."

Batman received hush money and decided to wait until he had seen it before deciding whether to adjust Leo's danger level.